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One of the most injured areas of the body is the rotator cuff, also known as the rotator cuff. A damaged shoulder rotator causes the entire arm to be disabled and the shoulder sore.
Causes of rotator cuff injuries
Rotator cuff stabilizes the head of the humerus in the joint, is responsible for lifting the arm and performing rotational movements in the joint. Rotator cuff covers the area of the shoulder-scapular joint. It is a structure composed of the tendons of the muscles of the shoulder girdle: the supraspinatus, the subcapular muscle, the subscapular muscle, and the lesser round muscle.
To be damaged the rotator cuff it occurs as a result of degeneration, degenerative changes causing chronic damage cone rotators or overloading the tendons as a result of too much sports and repetitive movements with a load that causes damage the rotator cuff in an emergency.
Injuries the rotator cuff They often affect athletes practicing weightlifting, crossfit, as well as disciplines that require holding hands up and performing rotations within the shoulder: swimming, volleyball, basketball and physical work such as painting walls, works on a construction site.
Symptoms of damage to the rotator cuff
The most common symptoms damage the rotator cuff These are: shoulder pain that increases with physical activity or stress, restriction of movement, crackling of the shoulder joint due to movement, shoulder pain at night, shoulder pain caused by lifting the arms up, for example to reach for something high shelves or stretching.
Diagnosis and treatment of rotator cuff tears
In case of finding as a result of observation and medical history symptoms damage the rotator cuff a specialist doctor performs a series of examinations. Usually it is a clinical examination – manual and imaging examination. For the diagnosis of damage the rotator cuff the image obtained thanks to the ultrasound examination (USG) and the evaluation of the X-ray image (X-ray), as well as the MR image, i.e. the result of the examination using magnetic resonance, are used.
After a thorough diagnosis and confirmation of the injury the rotator cuff of the shoulder girdle, the doctor decides about the form of treatment for the injury. Treatment of the injury the rotator cuff it usually consists of conservative rehabilitation and pharmacotherapy with painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs and shoulder relief. In acute acute trauma up to treatment painkillers and cold compresses are applied to the swelling that often appears at the site of the injury. The mainstay of surgical treatment is arthroscopy.
Surgery for a damaged rotator cuff
In some cases, trauma the rotator cuff or degenerative changes in the joint are so serious and not likely to be cured by other means that the attending physician – orthopedist may decide to refer the patient for surgery.
Operation damaged the rotator cuff can be carried out in one of three ways. Operation of the shoulder may take the form of arthroscopic reconstruction, performed with the use of special tools inserted under the skin through small incisions. Along with the tools for operation A small camera is inserted under the skin, allowing you to view the image of the operated shoulder on the monitor. This technique allows the shoulder to be reconstructed without leaving an extensive scar, and thus allows the patient to recover faster after the procedure.
Open reconstruction is performed in a more exposed shoulder as a result of an incision made on a larger area of the skin. This technique is used, inter alia, when it is necessary to transplant part of a tendon.
Third kind operation The shoulder is a semi-open reconstruction, combining both of the previously mentioned methods of accessing the operated shoulder.
Rehabilitation after damage to the rotator cuff
Regardless of the technique chosen by the orthopedic surgeon operation shoulder, the most important stage of restoring the efficiency of a previously damaged shoulder the rotator cuff is rehabilitation.
The rehabilitation period after an injury or degeneration within the rotator cuff and, if necessary, the shoulder joint reconstruction surgery may take from 4 to 6 months. Rehabilitation the rotator cuff includes movement exercises, physical therapy, often also cryotherapy treatments – cold treatment, treatment with a magnetic field and laser (laser therapy), treatments with the use of electric current to increase muscle mass (electrostimulation) and muscle relaxation treatments: massages and whirlpool baths.
Recently, a popular method supporting the treatment and rehabilitation of sick joints is kinesiotaping, which consists in covering the joint with special plasters that have a sensory effect on the muscles, improving their work, causing resistance and stimulating the body to regenerate.